"Why are you doing this, anyway?" he asked as he drove her across the field in his father's old beater. "Didn't your grandpa want it to end with him?" Abe hadn't been nearly as talkative as before, and the question jumped forth nervously after a stretch of uncomfortable silence.

Well, as much silence as a near-dead pickup rambling off-road could hope to achieve. "My sister," she finally replied. "She disappeared a couple years back. I always thought my grandpa was crazy, the stories he told about this thing -- and he kind of was, especially towards the end--"

She winced as the truck jumped and jolted against the hard earth. Even if her recovery was speedy enough to astound her companions, she still felt weak. "But," she added, "I found a few kernels of truth. Enough to make me think...you know, just maybe. Someone as great as Allie will make you desperate to believe anything, I guess, if it means you might be able to get her back."